AR
By Ryan Herrington
There are New Year’s proclamations touted on social media we all know are coming each January that are accompanied with a bit of a collective eye roll. Promising you’re going to get into better shape. Vowing to read more books. Pledging to lower your handicap by three strokes. But there is one traditional post that most golf fans can get behind:
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Why is it that seeing well-heeled pro golfers receive a little white envelope in the mail seems to put a smile on OUR faces? We’re not entirely sure, but it does. (Our favourite part of the invitation is the “RSVP” request.)
So how many golfers should have gotten their own little white envelopes (provided the USPS doesn’t have it sitting in a bin in processing center in Kansas City)? As of the end of 2020, 84 players had qualified for the 2021 Masters, after the addition of those not already eligible who were ranked in the top 50 of the year-end World Ranking (and excluding past champions who are unlikely to compete).
There are still a few ways to earn an invitation between now and April. The winner of any of the 13 remaining full FedEx Cup points event on the PGA Tour not already qualified will get in. Additionally, anyone in the top 50 of the World Ranking a week before the April 8-11 tournament will also get an invitation. And, of course, Augusta National has the right to offer special invitations. (Ordinarily, the winner of the Latin America Amateur, traditionally held in January, would also get into the field, but that tournament has been postponed.)
With less than 100 days until the tournament is scheduled to begin, Masters officials still have a few difficult decisions to make between now and April, most notably whether to allow patrons to attend the tournament given the continued rise in cases of COVID-19 or to play the tournament without fans as was the case when the postponed 2020 Masters was held in November. Until then, we’ll just let those who got their white envelopes revel in the moment and dream of teeing it up in front of a gallery of some sort in four months.
2021 Masters field
Abraham Ancer
Daniel Berger
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Ángel Cabrera
Patrick Cantlay
Paul Casey
Cameron Champ
Stewart Cink
Corey Conners
Fred Couples
Jason Day
Bryson DeChambeau
Harris English
Tony Finau
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Tommy Fleetwood
Dylan Frittelli
Sergio Garcia
Brian Gay
Lanto Griffin
Tyrrell Hatton
Jim Herman
Billy Horschel
Viktor Hovland
Mackenzie Hughes
Sungjae Im
Trevor Immelman
Dustin Johnson
Zach Johnson
Kevin Kisner
Brooks Koepka
Jason Kokrak
Matt Kuchar
Martin Laird
Bernhard Langer
Marc Leishman
Joe Long (a)
Shane Lowry
Sandy Lyle
Hideki Matsuyama
Rory McIlroy
Phil Mickelson
Larry Mize
Francesco Molinari
Collin Morikawa
Sebastian Muñoz
Kevin Na
Joaquin Niemann
José Maria Olazábal
Louis Oosthuizen
Carlos Ortiz
Charles Osborne (a)
Ryan Palmer
C.T. Pan
Victor Perez
Ian Poulter
Jon Rahm
Patrick Reed
Justin Rose
Xander Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler
Charl Schwartzel
Adam Scott
Webb Simpson
Vijay Singh
Cameron Smith
Jordan Spieth
Henrik Stenson
Tyler Strafaci (a)
Robert Streb
Hudson Swafford
Justin Thomas
Michael Thompson
Brendon Todd
Jimmy Walker
Matt Wallace
Bubba Watson
Mike Weir
Lee Westwood
Bernd Wiesberger
Danny Willett
Matthew Wolff
Gary Woodland
Tiger Woods
